Hyderabad, July 15: Home minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy said the police opened fire on protestors at Beela in Sompet only after the situation had gone out of control. She said protestors attacked the police with stones and sticks and injured several of them, forcing them to open fire. She clarified that only one person was killed in the firing.
Speaking to reporters at Secretariat today, she said the police had asked Nagarjuna Construction Company to postpone the commissioning of works yesterday as the villagers were up in arms against the proposed power plant. Similarly, the villagers were also asked to maintain restraint.
The company postponed its function, but nearly 3,000 villagers turned up at the construction site today morning. “As the function was postponed, police asked the villagers to go back.
They started returning but suddenly they attacked the police with stones and sticks,’’ the home minister claimed.
Sabitha Indra Reddy said the police were forced to open fire as they came under severe attack and their own lives were at risk. A head constable was severely injured and the police had to open fire. She said an ASP and ASI were severely injured and the condition of six constables and an equal number of civilians was serious. Police had to open fire a second time when the villagers staged a protest in front of the police station with the body of the villager. Asked whether an inquiry would be ordered into the firing, Sabitha Indra Reddy said the government would look into the issue.
—Agencies